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Hosea The Prophet of a Broken Heart and a Broken Home

Meet The God Who Loves You - 2

TEXT: Hosea 1:1-3

AIM:

INTRODUCTION:
GROOMSMEN stand at attention as the music swells and the bride begins her long walk
down the aisle, arm in arm with her father. The smiling, but nervous, husband-to-be follows
every step, his eyes brimming with love. Happy tears are shed, vows stated, and families
merged. A wedding is a joyous celebration of love. It is the holy mystery of two becoming
one, of beginning life together, and of commitment. Marriage is ordained by God and
illustrates his relationship with his people. There is perhaps no greater tragedy, therefore,
than the violation of those sacred vows.

God told Hosea to find a wife, and told him ahead of time that she would be unfaithful to
him. Although she would bear many children, some of these offspring would be fathered by
others. In obedience to God, Hosea married Gomer. His relationship with her, her adultery,
and their children became living, prophetic examples to Israel.
A. All of us love a love story.
Romance novels are perennially on the best-sellers list because everybody likes to read a
love story. Movies that have as their theme a love story, sell in the millions because
everybody loves a love story.

Unfortunately, much of what people in our world today call a love story is really a lust story.
The book of Hosea is a love story-real, tragic, and true. It tells the greatest love story ever
told.

One of the things that sets the Bible apart from other religious literature is that it isnt just a
collection of religious sayings or moral precepts. Instead, it records the acts of God within the
context of human history. It speaks of real people, places, and events through which the
sovereign purpose of God threads its way like a mighty river. To understand its message, we
must take time to study the historical background in which it was written. We must study the
lives of the people, understand the events, which shaped their lives, learning not only how
God was at work, but also why.
B. In the OT, Hosea is the first in the list of 12 books so-called the Minor
Prophets.
They begin with Hosea and go all the way to Malachi. The name Minor Prophets is derived
from the brevity of the books when compared to the significantly longer writings of the
Major Prophets. The name does not mean that the prophets or their message are inferior to
the other, longer books as the message is a major message but it is found in more brevity than
in some of the other books. They are as deserving of our study as is any portion of Gods
Word.
 Hosea The Prophet of a Broken Heart and a Broken Home Meet The God Who Loves You - 2 2

We have the background of the book given to us right here, but we do not know a great deal
about Hosea as an individual. We do know that his name means salvation, or deliver.

Hosea was chosen by the Lord to give a message to Israel, which has given him the title
through the years as the prophet of love. Probably no one in all of the OTno preacher
that God ever usedever came to comprehend and understand and enter into the wonderful
love God has for fallen man as did this man Hosea.

The way Hosea found out about the love of God was through a personal experience in his
life, which was heartbreaking to say the least. He found not only that he was the prophet of
love, but that he was also the prophet of the broken heart. He came to understand the love
of God by a heart-breaking experience in his own life. He came to understand how that the
love of God broke Gods own heart as well.
We know that sin does break the law of God. The Bible says that sin is transgression of
the law.
Sin is a violation of Gods law. It is rebellion against Gods law.
It is a spit in the face of God.
It is a strike at the heart of God.
Sin breaks Gods law, but sin is also against Gods love. Sin breaks Gods law, but sin
also breaks Gods heart.

In spite of the fact that judgment abounds within the prophecies of Hosea, he is best known
for the picture he gives to us of the unconditional love of God. Experientially, Hosea came to
some understanding of what the love of God was all about.

Although God will judge His people, He always aims for reconciliation. Thus Hosea begins
with a demonstration of Gods love and ends with a declaration of His love. "I will heal their
backsliding, I will love them freely; for mine anger is turned away from him. I will be as the dew unto
Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon (14:4-5).
C. Why are we studying a book like thiswritten so many centuries ago?
1. Well, the Bible says in 2 Tim. 3:16, All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is
profitable.
a. That means that God has a message for us in all of the pages of the Bible and
in all of the books of the Bible wherever we are in the Bible because it is the
Word of God. Gods Word is contemporary and up-to-date.
b. Its just like you were reading the daily newspaper and so Gods Word,
wherever we may study it, is always profitable.
2. Romans 15:4 says, For what things were written aforetime were written for our
learning that we through the patience and the comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
a. So there is a message here for us.
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b. I think really the more I study Hosea and study the minor prophets that
these messages have probably more application and are more relevant for the
day in which we live than all the books of our Bible.

I. THE CONDITIONS OF ISRAEL VS. 1

A. The Date
1. We date things by days and months and years.
This is 13 Feb. 2011. Thats the way we date time today.
2. But many times, in the Bible, they dated according to the kings who reigned at
that particular time.
3. Hosea tells us that he wrote in the time during the reign of four kings of Judah in
the south and one king in the north named Jeroboam.
4. Because of what we read here and because we can place the known time of these
kings we know the events of Hosea were somewhere in the 8th century before
Christ.
B. The Division
1. The setting in which Hosea prophesied and wrote his book was the time when
the kingdom was divided among Gods people.
a. You might recall the story about the great king David and then the story of
his son, Solomon.
b. Well after the reign of Solomon, there was a major division.
There was a civil break in the land.
2. When Hosea was called to be a prophet, the Hebrew nation had been fractured
for about 150 years
a. So, the kingdom was divided into two kingdoms.
a) Two tribes in the south made up the southern kingdom and are
known as Judah, around Jerusalem.
b) The ten northern tribes made up second division. This northern
kingdom is referred to as Israel, or Ephraim (after the tribe of its first
king, Jeroboam I), or Samaria (after its capital city).
b. At times, the two kingdoms maintained a friendly co-existence.
At other times, they endured periods of war.
C. Deployment
1. As Hosea began his ministry, Israel was on a collision course with the judgment
of God. He preached in what we might call the last lap of the iniquity of the
people of God.
2. It was Hoseas duty to cry out against their sins, warn them of coming judgment,
and explain why God would allow them to be overthrown.
3. In less than 50 years, the Assyrians would overrun the nation.
 Hosea The Prophet of a Broken Heart and a Broken Home Meet The God Who Loves You - 2 4

a. Thousands would be slaughtered. Thousands more would be deported into

captivity and slavery. God could no longer ignore the sins of His people.
b. So, Hosea was writing in a setting that was a very, very significant time in
their history.
4. Charles Dickens, at the beginning of his book A Tale of Two Cities said of 18th
century Europe: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Here was an age of luxurious materialism, apparent religious devotion and activity, freedom,
and even an apparent national security in which politics, law, and religion all seemed to play
into the favoured peoples hands. Thus it was the best of times and yet the worst because of
hearts of the people were empty, religion was shallow, and corruption was rampant on every
hand. The law was manipulated to the advantage of the rich, and much if not most of the
religious activity was mere show. Hoseas cry is that the people had been unfaithful to God,
just as an adulterous wife is unfaithful to her husband. God had blessed His people;
prospered them both materially and spiritually. But they had begun to live for pleasure. They
had abandoned hard work, morality, and integrity in order to live for themselves.
5. The statement It was the best of times. It was the worst of times could
well be made of the days in which Hosea preached.
a. It was the BEST OF TIMES a time of material prosperity.
1) If we were to go back and read 2 Kings 14-17 we would read something
about the days in which Hosea was prophesying
a) There was tremendous prosperity in the land. The economy was
strong.
b) They had entered into certain international alliances that had
brought great wealth and income to the land.
2) It was a time where socially there was great progress being made in
many areas.
3) But alongside the prosperity, there were also signs of social
disintegration.
a) It was a time of bloodshed and murder.
b) It was a time of drunkenness.
c) It was a time of sexual immorality.
4) You cannot help but make the applications to the world today when you
read about the people of God at this particular time.
a) Here is Ireland we were living in a time of great economic prosperity.
There is concern now about economic austerity proposals, but you
and I do know that we have lived in great prosperity in recent years.
b) It is also a time when there are international upheavals. We are
wondering about whats going on in the Middle East. Were
wondering whats going to take place next.
 Hosea The Prophet of a Broken Heart and a Broken Home Meet The God Who Loves You - 2 5

c) It is a time where socially people are living in finer places and have
more and more gadgets in their homes and yet there is less home life
than there has probably ever been before.
d) It was the best of times in Israel and in Ireland we could say in some
ways it is the best of times, a time of material prosperity.
b. But it was also the WORST OF TIMES a time of spiritual promiscuity.
1) Gods people were indeed thatGods people.
a) The children of Israel were no ordinary nation of people.
b) They were Gods chosen people. God had laid His hands upon them.
c) They were special. They were His peculiar treasure, the Bible says.
d) They were to belong to Him and love Him and serve Him and they
were to have no other gods before Him.
2) Yet, when you read in the time of which they lived, it was the worst of
times because there was an utter indifference to God on the part of Gods
people.
a) The people of God were flirting after the gods of the land.
b) They had lived in the land of Canaan and Canaan had influenced the
life of the people of God.
c) There were pagan gods on every hand and one of those gods was the
god Baal. Baal rears his ugly head all through this book of Hosea.
3) This was a time in Israels history, which the people of God had
wandered away from the Lord.
a) A time of spiritual promiscuity.
b) A time of spiritual adultery.
6. The Bible has a word for spiritual adultery and we find it in our KJB in verse 2.
It is the word whoredom.
a. Whoredom is the word that designates the spiritual immorality of the
people.
b. It is a word that describes the spiritual unfaithfulness of Gods people.
c. Though the land was a prosperous land, it was also becoming a spiritual
whorehouse.

So it was the best of times, but it was also the worst of times. I wonder if God has a message
for us in the book of Hosea? I wonder if God has something to say to Ireland; Europe?
I wonder if God has something to say to the churches of Ireland? I wonder if God could
speak to your heart and to my heart? Is there a message for us in this setting?

We move to verse 2 and we see set before us in that verse

 Hosea The Prophet of a Broken Heart and a Broken Home Meet The God Who Loves You - 2 6

II. THE COMMAND TO HOSEA VS. 1-2

A. It came by divine inspiration
Vs. 1 The word of the LORD that came unto Hosea
Vs. 2 The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea
1. Hosea is not alone in claiming divine inspiration for his writings. There are over
1300 such claims in the 17 prophetic books of the Old Testament.
a. Of themselves, these claims mean little. Anyone can claim to be speaking and
writing on behalf of God.
b. But there are at least two reasons for accepting Hoseas statement as fact.
1) Its agreement with all other Biblical prophetic writing.
2) Its authentication by the Lord Jesus Christ.
a) Jesus quotes from Hosea 6:6 in Matthew 9:13; 12:7.
b) He also quotes Hosea 10:8 in Luke 23:30.
2. Hosea was just the human instrument. God inspired the content of his message
and directed him in how it was to be delivered.
B. Verse 2 gives us what the story is all about.
It is a rather amazing story, would you not agree? Vs. 2 says, The beginning of the word of the
Lord by Hosea. God always has a word. God always has His man. Sometimes God gave His
word in unusual ways. In those days when Gods people would not hear with their ears the
message of the Lord, then sometimes God would use the prophets who would act out the
message in their own life. This is what is going to take place in the life of Hosea.
1. Look at the particulars of this story. And the Lord said to Hosea, Go take unto thee a
wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms.
a. Literally God is saying to Hoseago and marry a girl who is a prostitute.
1) This has been a source of great consternation to Bible students all
through the years. They feel that God would never tell anyone to marry a
harlot but the Scripture is too plain to take any other position.
2) This is so unlike what God is. Here is God who gives an astonishing
command to one of His preachers. Go and marry a prostitute.
b. There have been all kinds of attempts to try to wiggle around what this
statement is.
1) Some people say, God is using an allegory, its not a literal story. It
didnt really happen.
a) Yet, when you read the language it is very clear. The language is
literal language.
b) In fact, in vs. 3 he specifically gives the name of the girl he is to marry
and tells us who her father is. It doesnt sound like allegory.
It sounds like literal language.
 Hosea The Prophet of a Broken Heart and a Broken Home Meet The God Who Loves You - 2 7

2) There are others who have tried to do it this way: They have said, What
happened was that God told Hosea to marry this girl, but at the time it
was NOT known she was a prostitute and Hosea is looking back on the
experience and is saying he didnt know at the time she was a prostitute.
God knew it, but I didnt know it. That may ease the situation a little bit,
but we are still faced with the astonishing truth in this verse of Scripture
that God tells one of His prophets, one of His preachers, to marry a girl
who is a prostitute. Think about that.
2. In either case, Hosea knew exactly what kind of a woman he was commanded to
marry. She would break his heart.
a. It is a mistake to think that everything God asks us to do will be easy. It is
also a mistake to think that we will always understand what God is up to.
1) At times, it even may appear that God has acted in a way contrary to His
character. But God is in the business of speaking to men.
2) God has a message He is trying to get across, and sometimes He has to
use drastic means to get our attention.
b. The Cross certainly fits into that category.
c. For three days, it had the disciples completely baffled. It didnt fit their
theology. It took the resurrection and some personal instruction by the Lord
before they began to understand.
3. I doubt that in the beginning Hosea understood how this marriage could be used
to Gods glory. However, it tells us a great deal about the character and faith of
this man. Hosea was willing to follow the Lord even when he didnt fully
understand.
C. I want to modernize the storyline for you a little bit.
Could I use a little sanctified imagination? Lets just bring this story into the modern world.

Hosea was a young preacher just beginning to preach.

Like all preachers he needs a wife. So, Hosea is talking to the Lord about it.
Hes saying, Lord, youve called me to preach, but every preacher needs a good wife and,
Lord, I would like to have a wife.

The Lord says, Hosea, I agree with you. You do need a wife and I have already picked
her out for you. Her name is Gomer. Ill show her to you in the market place
tomorrow.

Hosea is all eyes. God has picked him out a wife.

By the way, could I say to youlet God pick out your mate for you. The Bible says when
God created Adam He brought Eve to him. Let God pick out your mate for you.
 Hosea The Prophet of a Broken Heart and a Broken Home Meet The God Who Loves You - 2 8

The next day Hosea can hardly wait to get to the mall. Hes going to meet his bride-to-be in
the mall. Sure enough, in a little while hes walking down the mall and looks right ahead and
God said, There she is. Thats Gomer.

I want to tell youHosea, the preacher boy had never seen anything like her in all his life.
That was the most gorgeous, the most beautiful girl Yabba, dabba, do. His eyes go goo-goo.
Then the Lord whispers into his ears and says, But now Hosea, what you need to
understand isshes a prostitute.

Hoseas mouth drops open in surprise. Lord, surely, someone that beautifulshe couldnt
be that way.
1. Sometimes we say that love is blind. Love is blind, but love is also brainless.
a. Have you found that to be true? Maybe Hosea said, I think I misunderstood.
The Lord didnt really mean it that way. Nobody that beautiful could be that
bad.
1) Sometimes we misunderstand outward beauty for inward beauty. Just
because someone is beautiful on the outside doesnt meant hey are
beautiful on the inside.
2) There is many a girl who has the face of an angel but the morals of an
alley cat.
3) There is many a boy who looks like a hunk on the outside, but hes a
hustling bum on the inside. Yet, God told Hosea that was the one he
ought to marry.
b. You can imagine the consternation. You can imagine the contradictions that
must have come in his mind as he began to court Gomer and as they began to
talk and develop their relationship.
1) He just falls head over heelsmadly in love with this girl. One night he
says to her, Gomer, I love you and I want to marry you, but there was
some problems here.
2) She says, I know Hosea, I havent been all that I should have been. I
want you to know Im going to do better. She says, I want you to
baptize me, Hosea, in one of your meetings.
3) So, the marriage is arranged and she comes forward in the service and he
baptizes her. Yet, in the back of his head he remembers what God said,
Go and marry a girl who is a prostitute.
D. The greatest love story ever told. Thats the story linenow, the particulars of
the story.
Notice he tells us the purpose of the story in the rest of vs. 2 Go marry a wife of whoredoms,
the children of whoredoms, FOR the land has committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord.
1. The Lord is saying to Hosea this: your marriage to an unfaithful wife will
illustrate the way my people have been untrue to me by worshiping other gods.
 Hosea The Prophet of a Broken Heart and a Broken Home Meet The God Who Loves You - 2 9

a. He is saying, Hosea, Im going to use you as a living sermon.

b. Im going to show through this experience in your own life that my people
have departed from me. They have been untrue to me and they are
worshipping other gods.
2. The Bible talks in terms of spiritual unfaithfulness.
a. In the OT we are told specifically that the children of Israel were to be the
bride of Jehovah. The Lord said in Jer. 3:14, I have married thee.
b. In the NT we are also told that the bride of Christbelieversare to be the
bride of the Lord Jesus Christ. In 2 Cor. 11:2 Paul says, I have espoused you to
one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
c. Israel was married to Jehovah. Gods people today are the bride of the Lord
Jesus Christ. We belong to Him. We are to be married to Him. The Bible
warns us to be faithful to Him.
3. Israel was unfaithful to the Lord.
a. When they began to worship other gods and when they began to flirt around
with other gods they were guilty of spiritual immorality, spiritual
unfaithfulness.
b. The Bible tells you and me as born again believers that we are to be totally
faithful unto the Lord Jesus Christ. When we are unfaithful to the Lord and
follow after this old world, we are guilty of spiritual adultery.

1 John 2 says, Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
James 4:4 says, Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that friendship with world is enmity
with God.
4. When we are unfaithful to our Saviour, the Bibles word for it is whoredoms
spiritual immorality spiritual prostitution.
5. Probably the greatest sin there is against God is the sin of unfaithfulness.
a. Unfaithfulness is a sin against love.
b. The reason adultery in the marriage relationship today is such a serious sin is
that it is a sin against love.
1) When a man is unfaithful to his wife he has sinned against her love.
2) When a wife is unfaithful to her husband she has sinned against his love.
c. Adultery rips the love relationship. The Bible says God is a jealous God and
God will not take it lightly when we are spiritually unfaithful to Him.

We have observed the Command to Hosea now let us look at

III. THE COMPLIANCE OF HOSEA VS. 3A

A. Vs. 3 is a classic text. It ranks alongside Abrahams obedience to offer Isaac.
 Hosea The Prophet of a Broken Heart and a Broken Home Meet The God Who Loves You - 2 10

1. There is no indication that Hosea struggled to reach a decision. God had

commanded. So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim
2. His action displayed both faith and obedience.
a. Because he believed that God would somehow work this all out for His
glory, he obeyed.
b. He didnt question Gods goodness or doubt Gods wisdom because he had
Gods own Word to direct him.
B. What a shameful story this is.
1. They get married, but in the back of Hoseas mind he remembers that God has
saidShe is going to be a prostitute.
2. Gomer has promised him that she is going to try to do a little bit better.
So they begin a marriage.

IV. THE CHILDREN VS. 3-5

Its not long after their marriage that they get the word that Gomer is going to have a baby.
They take her down and do the sonogram/ultrasound and learn its going to be a boy.
A. In Bible days, names had great importance.
Because of the names of each person it is obvious that the Lord directed each relationship.
HOSEA married a woman by the name of GOMER.
1. HOSEA means Saviour
2. GOMER means completion i.e. the filling up of the measure of idolatry, or
ripeness of perfected wickedness. She was corruption personified.
3. Hosea was the son of BEERI which means A Well (such as a fountain of life or
living waters)
4. DIBLAIM who was Gomers father means double embrace as double layers of
grape cake or two fig cakes pressed together, or twin balls, or lump of figs
pressed together indicating luxury and sensuality. With such a father we can
understand why Gomer became such a woman of sensual pleasure.

We find the grace of God in a saviour (in Hosea) that comes as a fountain of life (from Berri)
unto a society of luxury and sensuality (Diblaim) and becomes the husband of an unfaithful
and corrupt woman (Gomer).
B. Parents gave children names that had meanings.
1. You can tell a great deal about a nation by the names of the children.
a. So, Hosea was to name this first boy Jezreel, which means literally, God
Sows as in scattering seed.
b. By these names we are learning something about spiritual unfaithfulness.
2. There is a historical fulfillment of this because what God was basically predicting
to Israel wasyoure on your way outjudgment is coming. Its just a matter of
time Israel. Captivity is going to come and you are going to be scattered.
 Hosea The Prophet of a Broken Heart and a Broken Home Meet The God Who Loves You - 2 11

3. For your first son, Call his name JezreelforIll avenge the blood of Jezreel upon
the house of Jehu. And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel
in the valley of Jezreel (vs. 4-5).

Do you remember the story of Jezreel? Jezreel was a town. It was the royal residence of king
Ahab and his wife, Jezebel. Now there was some wife! Jezebel. God used this man Jehu to
judge Ahab and Jezebel, but he went overboard and he did it with a vengeance (2 Kgs. 10:1-
11). Therefore, Jehus dynasty would be punishedin Jezreel, the very place where he
carried out the massacre of Ahabs family. So, Jezreel became a place, which illustrated the
judgment of God. God said judgment is on the way for Israel. God said captivity is on the
way for Israel.

Hosea names this boy Jezreel God scatters. Hosea knows something is not right. He
doesnt know exactly what it is, but something is not right around the preachers house. The
phone rings and he picks it up and says, Pastor Hoseas residence. And theres a click on
the other end. The emails come into his computer, but they are coded and he cant
understand them. Gomer has been going to the mall and shes staying later and later. She
comes back with flimsy excuses that just dont hold together.
4. Now, Jezreel is the first boy born and his name means God scatters.
a. This says to you and I that spiritual unfaithfulness always scatters.
Sin always scatters.
b. In Psalm 1:4 the Bible says, The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which
the wind driveth away.
c. Sin always scatters a life. Sin takes a life and scatters it to pieces.
Sin takes a family and scatters it to pieces. Thats what sin always does.

Remember the lost son in Luke 15?

We call him the prodigal son because he squandered his fathers inheritance in a recklessly
extravagant way
The Bible says in Luke 15:13 that he took his fathers money, and took his journey into a far
country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. The word, wasted, there means to
take wheat and throw it up in the air and the wind blows it. It means he blew his life.
Sin does not cause you to live your life. Sin causes you to blow your life. It just scatters
everything you have.

The time came when the prodigal son found himself in the hogs pen and judgment came
and no man gave unto him. Sin scatters. Spiritual unfaithfulness scatters.
5. Second Child is a girl vs. 6. The name of the littler girl, Lo-ruhamah, means
no mercy, not pitied. She will not be shown compassion or a fathers love.
a. Hosea is getting more and more suspicious. In the back of his mind he
remembers what God has said about his wife Gomer is a prostitute.
 Hosea The Prophet of a Broken Heart and a Broken Home Meet The God Who Loves You - 2 12

b. Now, they have named this second little girl, no pity. Theres no pity for
this precious little child. Its saying here in historical context that Israel is
getting itself to the place where God would withdraw His mercy from them.
c. The mercy of God is a wonderful truth in the Word of God, but the Bible
talks not only about Gods mercy, it talks about Gods wrath.

In Romans 11:22 it says, Behold, therefore, the goodness and the severity of God. Gods mercy
upon us is unconditional, but your enjoyment and experience of that mercy of God is
conditioned upon your faithfulness to the Lord and your obedience to Him. Some people put
themselves outside the mercy of God.
6. LOOK >> Hosea 1:7 But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah.
a. Judah wasnt spiritually as far along down the line as Israel. But shortly after
defeating Israel, the Assyrian Emperor Sennacherib invaded Israel and
besieged Jerusalem God intervened by sending a powerful angel to save the
city (2 Kgs. 19:35)I will save them by the LORD their God, and will not save
them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen. He is saying
that Judah has still kept themselves under my mercy; Im going to save them.
b. Where are we tonight as a church? Where are we as a nation? Are we under
Gods mercy or are we under Gods judgment? Are we under Gods
goodness or are we under Gods severity? Are we Israel or are we Judah?
1) What is Gods message for us? God says in verse 7 to Judah, I will save
them by the Lord their God, and will not save them by the bow
2) He is saying that you have to know where you salvation is coming from.
You have to know where your help comes from.
a) If you think salvation is coming from the worlds financial stock
exchanges, you dont understand.
b) If you think salvation is coming from the halls of a political
governments, then you dont understand.
c) If you think that salvation is going to come because a certain political
party is elected exercising political power, then you dont
understand.
3) The salvation of our country or any other for that matter is not in
government: it is not in its institutions. The Bible says our hope is in the
Lord. Hes our only hope. Thats who we needthe Lord.

Noticeno pity. It simply says that spiritual unfaithfulness brings severity to your life.

7. Third Child READ Vs. 8-9

a. Literally the name, Lo-ammi, means not my people or no kin of mine.
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b. Its dawned on Hosea now. He sees whats going on. Hosea takes the boy
down to the hospital. They do the DNA testing. The doctor says to Hosea,
Hosea, Gomer is this boys mother, but you are not his daddy. The awful
reality falls like a clap of thunder upon the heart of Hosea.
c. He has come to know what God had told him all along. He has married a
common slut. Shes a prostitute. Shes not mine. This boy is not my boy.
Theres going to have to be a meeting at the house of Hosea.
d. In vs. 3 we read that Gomer bare him [Hosea] a son. In vs. 6 & 8 we learn
that Gomer gave birth to two more children, but there is no indication that
Hosea was there natural father the text implies that he was not.
1) Whether or not they were his the key to this part of the story is found in
the names God chose for the children, showing His reaction to Israels
unfaithfulness.
2) Gods reaction to unfaithfulness is no different today.
He desires our complete devotion.

V. THE COMMITMENT
A. You will find that every time God gives a message of judgement through
Hosea, Hell come right back with a message of hope.
1. Vs. 10 we find a promise: Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand
of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered;
2. God says, it will come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not
my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.
3. In vs. 11 the same thing is basically said again. He is saying that God has a
message of hope even in the midst of unfaithfulness of Gods people.
B. Turn to I Peter 1 where there is a great promise.
1. God took Simon Peter and in the book he wrote and takes him right back to the
book of Hosea and gives a wonderful promise to those who will come to the
Lord. Vs. 1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout
Scatteredthat is the meaning of Jezreel. God is saying, Ill bring you back.
2. Look over at 1Pet. 2:10 Which in time past were not a people, (Lo-ammi) but are
now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy (Lo-ruhamah), but now have
obtained mercy. He is saying here if you will come to the Lord Jesus Christ, you
will experience Gods mercy and though you may be a nobody, in Jesus Christ
you can become one of Gods some bodies. Thats grace. That is the gospel.

CONCLUSION:
Here is Gods message from the preacher who married a prostitute. It is Gods message to
those of us who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. We are married to the Lord Jesus Christ.

It happened like this. When you accepted Jesus Christ as your Saviour, its like a wedding
ceremony took place. The Lord Jesus looked at you with love in His face and said, I Jesus,
 Hosea The Prophet of a Broken Heart and a Broken Home Meet The God Who Loves You - 2 14

take thee, sinner, to be my lawful and wedded wife. To love and to cherish from this day
forward.

When you receive Jesus Christ as your Saviour, its as if you said, I, Jesus, take thee to be my
lawful and wedded husband, to love and to cherish from this day forward.

God says be true to Him. Be faithful to Him. Thats why its such a sad serious word in
Revelation 2:4 when the Lord Jesus said, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy
first love. Its an awful thing to be spiritually unfaithful to the Lord Jesus.
Tom and Pam had just been married.
The ceremony had taken place. They get in the car. They are on their way to the honeymoon.
Pam looks over at Tom and says, Tom, take me home.
He said, Home? What do you mean? Im building us a place to live, but its not ready
yet, it will be ready in a few months. I cant take you home.
She says, no, no, Tom. You dont understand, take me back to my house.
He says, What are you talking about. Weve just married.
She says, I know, weve just married, Tom. I want you to know I love you and I want you to
know Ill come to see you once a week on Sunday morning. I want you to know that I love
you and if I get in any trouble Im going to expect you to get me out of it. Im expecting you
to pay all the bills. Tom, I have a lot of necessities. Im going to need make up and cosmetics.
Im expecting you to pay the bill. But Tom, I love, but I have some other old boys out here I
kind of love, too. I want you to know Ill be by to see you once a week. Ill read about you in
the book every now and then, but I want you to know, Tom, I like for you to be my Saviour,
but I want you to stay out of my life.

That is exactly the way a lot of Christians do it. They say, Jesus, Im glad you saved me. Im
glad Im going to heaven when I die. Ill come by and check with you on Sunday and see how
things are getting along. Lord Jesus, take care of all my needs and problems. Meet every need
of my life, but stay out of my daily life, now. I want to serve whom I want to serve and live
for who I want to live for and run a round with whom I want to run around with.
Through his marriage, Hosea experienced what God experienced.
It is doubtful that any other circumstance could have better prepared him to understand how
God thought and felt. This insight empowered him to preach Gods message. When he spoke
of unfaithfulness, people knew they werent getting something second-hand. When he
announced Gods offer of forgiveness and reconciliation, they were aware that he knew what
he was talking about.

Hoseas call came at a time when serving God was difficult. His nation was at a spiritual
crossroads. If they continued on the course they had been travelling, judgment was
unavoidable. But Hosea was sent to tell them there was still time to change. They still had the
opportunity to turn back and avoid the hardship and heartache that lay ahead. Forgiveness
and reconciliation were available. Gods Law and Gods heart had been broken, but His love
had not been quenched. That is the message of Hosea.

Lets bow in prayer.

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13 Feb. 2011,Eve River Valley BC Leixlip, Co. Kildare